RideLust

*Image Source: gev.com

I’ve been in California less than a month and I’ve already seen more “green” cars then I’d seen in a year back in the New York metro area. The Toyota Prius for example – these suckers are EVERYWHERE. Then there are the gaggles of Tesla Roadsters, Chevrolet Volts and Nissan Leafs that roam the freeways. It’s strange, but I’ve got to admit it feels pretty good to see these cars on the road. Back in NY it was almost part of the culture NOT to be green as most New Yorkers I know simply didn’t take recycling seriously. Here in the Bay area though, it’s part of everyday life. From riding your bicycle to work, to having three different garbage cans for your waste materials, going green is definitely the thing to do around here. Now while it’s doubtful I’ll be getting rid of my 8-mpg muscle cars anytime soon, I’m actually considering buying something a bit more economical for a third car. Who knows, maybe these Californian’s are actually onto something…

Infiniti's M35h runs at Britain's Santa Pod Raceway. Image: Infiniti

Mention the phrase “hybrid car” to most enthusiasts, and their eyes glaze over before they nod off to sleep. By definition, hybrid cars contain two propulsion systems, which makes them heavy and overly complex. Worse, most are built simply to get you from point “A” to point “B” using as little fuel as possible, so typical hybrids are slow, lumbering beasts with the acceleration of moped and the handling of an economy car, Carrying a load of bricks on the hood. Read More…

If you’re counting down the days until the release of Ken Block’s Gymkhana Four, you’ve only got four more days to go. Gymkhana Four, starring Ken Block and his Hybrid Function Hoon Vehicle (HFHV), will hit You Tube on Tuesday, August 16. We hope it’s not a DC shoes sales pitch, thinly disguised as a hip-hop video, but the trailer below seems to indicate that it’s the real deal. Read More…

Image: Ford Motor Company

Want to buy a diesel-powered compact sedan or station wagon in the U.S.? You’ve got some options today, including the VW TDI models, Audi’s A3 TDI and (soon) the Chevy Cruze diesel. If you’re holding your breath waiting for Ford to release a diesel powered Fiesta, Focus or Fusion, we can offer this sage advice: don’t. Ford has no immediate plans to bring diesel into the United States, despite offering turbodiesel engines nearly everywhere else in the world. In fact, the new Ranger pickup is a good example of a global, diesel powered vehicle that we’re not getting on this side of the pond. Read More…

Image: Jane M. Sawyer

Compromise means that no one walks away from the table happy, but no one walks away really pissed off, either. Such is the case with the newly agreed upon CAFE standards for 2025: no one’s really happy with them, but no one found them overly objectionable, either. The EPA, and the Obama administration, had initially pushed for a standard of 62 mpg before agreeing to back off to 56.2 mpg. Although it’s really splitting hairs, the administration and the automakers agreed on a target of 54.5 mpg. Read More…

Man… it looks like just about everyone is jumping on the electric bandwagon. First it was cars, then motorcycles and now boats. I suppose it was inevitable that boaters would follow suit, however it seems like the cost of admission is unbelievably high. This is the EPIC 232se Electric Sport Boat, a boat that’s designed specifically for wake boarding. It’s sleek, fast and can hold a charge for up to 10 hours, however it also cost a whopping a $150,000 which is a lot of scratch for a 23-foot tow vehicle. Granted the EPIC 232se is filled to the gills with the latest and greatest in electric vehicle technology, but $150,000 just seems like and exorbitant amount of money to pay for a boat that does little more than tow you around a lake at speed.
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A few days back, the Associated Press broke a story about Chevrolet introducing a 50 mile-per-gallon, diesel-powered Cruze. In case you haven’t been following recent car sales numbers, the Cruze has been the best selling compact car in the U.S. for the past few months, and there’s good reason for that. It’s stylish, it’s comfortable and it’s priced right; in short, it’s the kind of car that Saturn should have been cranking out all along. You can get a Cruze with several engine options in America, and you can even buy it with a turbodiesel in other parts of the world (Australia, for example). Read More…

When you think of automakers who give the single-digit salute to environmentalists everywhere, who comes to mind? Clearly Hummer is the obvious choice, but they’re out of business. Who’s next on your list – Ferrari? Lamborghini? Bentley or Rolls-Royce? If you’re Greenpeace, the automaker in your crosshairs is Volkswagen, who Greenpeace accuses of overstating their environmental record and resisting attempts to make cars like the Golf more fuel efficient (um, Golf TDI, anyone?). Read More…

A gas powered computer? Want. Badly.

If you give me a choice between gas and electric, nine chances out of ten I’m going to choose gas. I’ve got a gas-powered lawn mower, a gas-powered string trimmer and a gas-powered backpack blower to clean my yard. I’m currently haunting pawn shops for a killer deal on a gas-powered chainsaw, because we’re headed into another hurricane season and have dodged a bullet for far too long. My power washer and my air compressor are both electric, which is a concession to practicality more than anything else, and if I could find the right deal on a two stroke blender, I’d buy it in a heartbeat. Thus, Nissan’s sentiment in the ad below is lost on me, and I’m far too jaded to believe that generation of electricity has no environmental impact. Watch the video and judge for yourself. Read More…

If you’re into motorcycles then you’ll remember that about ten years ago we began to see a shift in the types of bikes found in urban environments. Harley Davidson’s and hipster Ducati’s were all the rage, until that is, someone got smart and decided that enduros were actually the better way to go for bouncing over city potholes. Bikes like Honda’s XR650L and Kawaski’s KLR650 were now ditching their off-road tires in favor of nice street wheels clad with sticky rubber. The long travel suspension and upright riding positions made these the perfect machines for blitzing through tight city streets and bouncing over potholes. Now it seems that a California bike company called Zero Motorcycles has introduced a bike called the Zero S. It’s a bitchin’ looking enduro, but one that comes with a catch (and a cord). You see this sucker is electric.
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